Youth Awards in Literature - Winners Announced!

On 19 August 2010, in a special ceremony at the Mosman Youth Development Centre, Mosman Library announced the winners of the 18th Annual Mosman Youth Awards in Literature.

This year there were a massive 342 entrants across the 5 categories. 15 prizes totaling $2,000 were awarded to budding authors from schools across the Northern Beaches.

The judges gave glowing reports, commending the quality of the entrants and encouraging aspiring writers to read widely and often.

Selected entrants were read aloud by staff from Mosman Library and Mosman Youth Development Centre. Prizes were awarded by the Mayor, Cr Anne Connon, and by representatives from our sponsors, the Mosman Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Mosman.

Primary Prose:
Winner: Am I Dumb? By Charlotte Reimer
Second Place: Everest By Blake Nielson
Highly Commended: Justice Served Cold By Mark Rothery

Junior Secondary Prose:
Winner: The Letter By Millie Bull
Second Place: Alive in a Horror Movie By Claire Flitcroft
Highly Commended: Toby and Zac By Nicola Mildren

Senior Secondary Prose:
Winner: Alter My Ego By Ashley Ward
Second Place: Attention! By Josh Peacock
Highly Commended: Blink by Blink By Ebony Bautista

Junior Secondary Poetry
Winner: Before By Madison O’Donnell
Second Place: Johnny Barlow By Max Knight
Highly Commended: What if… By Timothy Boulton

Senior Secondary Poetry
Winner: The Final Debate 2009 By Laura Walker
Second Place: Untitled By Victoria Wade
Highly Commended: Our Lot By Rose de Kantzow

Book Week Video Competition!

How do bridges bring people and places together? How do stories act as bridges between people, the past and new ideas?

This year for Book Week, Mosman Library is having a video competition for Shorelink members aged between 13 and 18 years old. Entries are due on 20 August 2010 and winners will be announced on 26 August 2010 during Book Week.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Write a short story that features a bridge
OR
Review a story that connected you to something or someone you would have never known otherwise.
2. Make a video of yourself telling your story/review and upload it to the web
3. Fill out an entry form and send your video to us!

CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
• This competition is strictly for Shorelink library members aged between 13-18 years..
• Entries must be received by 5.30pm on the 20 August 2010.
• Entries will be judged during book week.
• Winners will be announced on the Teen Blog on 26 August 2010 and contacted by telephone.
• There will be 2 prizes, one for 12-15 years and one for 16-18 years.

THEME
• Each video should relate to the Children’s Book Week theme of “Crossing the Story Bridge”.
• Videos will be judged on creative interpretation of the theme and will not be penalised for limitations in equipment or software.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS
• Video must be posted on YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr (90 second maximum) or Animoto and the URL provided on your entry form.
• Video must comply with the Terms and Conditions of the sharing service used.
• Each video should be no longer than 2 minutes

Entries are due on 20 August 2010

HSC Lock-In

School Holiday Photos

We’ve uploaded the photos from the Game On! session during the school holidays!

Don’t forget to join us next school holidays for more games, more activities and competitions!

Don't judge a book by its cover...

Well…why not?

Unless you’re supremely organised and spend precious free-time researching your next pleasure-reading experience, or you’re more nifty than I with your chosen internet-enabled portable device, then without actually reading the book, the cover is all you really have to go on to decide if the book you have in your hand is a literary diamond in the rough or just some crap waste of your time.

I’ve recently chosen, as this weeks reading experience, Slam by Nick Hornby. It looked like a bit of a boys book with skateboards and those doodles that appear in school notebooks when you’re waiting for your teacher to finally get to the point…but among those doodles was a name very similar to mine in an ornate script in the middle of a love-heart and I found myself curious. On further inspection I find out that it is a book about a guy who skate-boards and the mention of Tony Hawke brings back obscured memories of a podcast I listened to about 6 months ago. I remember that the author sounded pretty interesting and the section of the book that he read out was funny but touching at the same time.

I took the opportunity to borrow the book immediately and it is sitting on my desk next to me waiting for my lunch break so that I can get started on it. I’ve already flicked through it a little and the first page I stopped on made me laugh out loud so I have pretty high hopes for this one.

My next read. Chosen for its cover.

Have you ever chosen a book for an interesting cover? Throw us a comment with a link to the pic and tell me what made you choose it and how it turned out. Was the cover deceptive, making a dull book seem more interesting, or was it everything you had hoped and dreamed of?